Topic: Anime & Manga (NO SPOILERS PLEASE)

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YashaHime: Princess Half Demon Season 1 (Hulu). Nostalgia feuled sequel of InuYasha, it reframes Sesshomaru as the central character from the original series and follows Towa Higurashi & Setsuna, the twin half demon daughters borne between Sesshomaru and Rin (the little girl he was charged with protecting in the original series, probably for the better it doesn't bother to explain how the connection between the two became romantic as she got older). The twins, seperated at a young age and both raised by adoptive families, meet up again as teenagers where it's learned that Setsuna has no memories of before the split & is "cursed" to never sleep. The two journey to recover Setsuna's missing memories, and along the way join up with Moroha, the daughter of InuYasha & Kagome, who likewise doesn't have her parents in her life.

Sorry if this runs on a bit (and a lot of names/terms won't make since if you're not acquainted with the OG series), but as a huge fan of the original series, there is a lot here for me to unpack, especially the issues I have with it, so please bear with me:

1. The "Rainbow Pearls". The new magical mcguffins introduced for the series, they effectively act like mini Shikon Jewels (the mcguffin of the OG series), and as we learn near the end of the season they were in fact created by the Shikon Jewel itself (via a wish by one of the main antagonists). My problem with these is that they're effectively like the "Black Star Dragon Balls" in Dragon Ball GT, in that their existence predates the events of the OG series and no in-universe explanation is given as to why they went completely unnoticed during the previous series' events. Furthermore, after all the hooplah surrounding them, when one of the main antagonists gathers them all near the end of the season, she gets one shotted (back to the DB comparisons, the Pearls, of which there are 7, scatter across the land in a nearly identical fashion to the Dragon Balls in the final episode).
2. The writers know that the old fans are here to find out what happened to the original cast, but the girls just don't seem to care about their parents (particularly Sesshomaru's daughters). In the first half of the season it's full of references & Easter eggs to draw in fans of the original series, but the whereabouts of the OG cast just isn't that high on the list of stuff the girls care about. About 15 or so episodes in the writers do away with the ruse and legit dedicate an episode to one of the villains breaking the 4th wall and expositioning the fate of the OG cast via a flashback directly to the audience, an event completely unrelated to the girls. Making things even worse is that the girls are surrounded by a supporting cast that's been around since the OG series (Kaede, Myoga, Kohaku, etc.) and none of them seem at all interested in discussing the fate of the parents who they haven't seen in over 14 years, which is more bizarre & out of character than anything.
3. Between the 3 girls Towa is the lead, & she's terrible:
A. Via a convoluted means it's she who is whisked away to the future & raised by Kagome's family as their granddaughter (hence the Higurashi surname despite being Sesshomaru & Rin's daughter), and the show can't decide whether or not it wants her to be a "Mary Sue" or incompetent. On one hand it gives her 3 big powerups in the first 6 or so episodes (with some abilities only being tangentially related to Sesshomaru, if at all, such as her ability to absorb demon energy, which seems to be a departure from the original series inferring that half demons only inherent lesser versions of their demon parent's abilities), and despite living a cushy life she often gets the kill over her sister & cousin who are shown to be much more seasoned warriors, sometimes one shotting enemies they struggled with (as a comparison with the OG series, Kagome couldn't properly hold a bow for the first 15 or so episodes).
B. On the other hand she's more naive about the past than Kagome ever was. During her first ordeal in the past, when faced with a demon who has literally ripped peoples' skeletons out in front of her to eat them, she suggests that they try to work things out peacefully so no one has to die. She seemingly learns her lesson about the harsh realities of the time period, only to have to learn the same lesson again and again, starting at square one every other episode (even as far as episode 18 when first confronted with the big bad, she nicely asks him if he would please stop antagonizing them). A few times she's even written to be incomprehensibly stupid as well. About 12-13 episodes in they deal with a demon who has kidnapped a 13 year old girl as he is obsessed with making her "his woman" (to the point of burning men alive if they happen to see her), and Towa's response is to straight faced say she understands his obsession as it mirrors her addiction to her smartphone. At the end of the episode the lesson she learns is that she needs to learn to let go of the past (or future in this case) and put away her phone (despite the fact it has a number of practical uses as a recording & note taking device). Making this asinine concept even worse however is that this smartphone that she was supposedly addicted to had never even appeared in a single frame of animation in any of the preceding 11-12 episodes.
4. The show seems to have a thing for taking a dump on InuYasha & Kagome in particular:
A. First off it's revealed that they waited the better part of a decade to have a kid for no other reason than to make sure the loli was old enough to have Sesshomaru's kids at the same time (and in fact they made the point to show that Rin gave birth at least a month before Kagome, so our previous leads were the last to have children). Secondly, it's revealed that when Moroha was still an infant Sesshomaru sealed away InuKag inside the tomb of Inu No Taisho (InuYasha & Sesshomaru's father). While this was done to protect them, it means they were completely shut out of raising their own daughter (or even watching her growth), and effectively writes them out of the series (assuming only Sesshomaru can open the seal, he probably won't free them until the show's climax).
B. Moroha has been given the worst childhood of the 3 girls. InuKag had her spirited away to Koga (an OG series recurring character) for safety moments before they were sealed away, but apparently he couldn't be arsed to do the job as he pawned her care off to a new character, who has a gambling problem & literally pawned Moroha off to pay for her gambling debts. Moroha starts the series off taking bounty hunter jobs for the guy who effectively owns her, so she can buy back her freedom. Making matters worse she's largely treated as the comic relief of the cast, with the jokes centering on her missing out on the episode's big fight or the target's body completely being destroyed, so she has no proof to bring back for a reward (this has been admitted by the showrunners, who said the twins were originally planned to be the only mains until they realized they didn't play off each other well enough to carry the show, so they upgraded Moroha's involvement for "personality" reasons). No explanation is given as to why Koga doesn't try & check up on her at least once every other year or hasn't busted her out (knowing his character from the OG series this just doesn't make sense).
C. In comparison, while Sesshomaru & Rin also didn't get to raise their daughters (and Rin herself is sealed away inside the Sacred Tree, which only had specific importance to the love triangle between InuYasha, Kagome, & Kikyo in the original series, co-opted to now be a place of importance to Sesshomaru & Rin), Towa got the cushy life of being raised in the modern era by Kagome's family, it's revealed that Setsuna had a tight knit adopted family that took care of her, and aloof as he is, it's revealed that Sesshomaru does watch over them from the shadows & intervienes directly or indirectly when he needs to (an opportunity fully denied to either InuYasha or Kagome on Moroha's behalf).
D. Miroku & Sango are largely uninvolved in the story (other than Miroku putting a seal on Setsuna's demonic powers in the past), but it's clearly inferred that they were able to safely raise their children (and despite Miroku temporarily being estranged from his son) they all still have a relationship with their parents (they're all off doing their own thing, but it's because they're all pushing 20 and leaving the nest). A bit of a relief for sure, but for the life of me I can't understand why InuYasha & Kagome's ending wasn't afforded the same respect, given they were the leads of the past series.
5. The Plot Holes:
A. In a flashback to a point at least 500 years ago, Inu No Taisho is shown to have the Tessaiga, Tenseiga, and uses Tessaiga to use a mastered "Meido Zangetsuha" attack. This contradicts the original series, which states the Tessaiga was created to protect InuYasha's human mother (who wouldn't be born yet during this flashback), and that Inu No Taisho was never able to master "Meido Zangetsuha" (the Tenseiga was splintered off of Tessaiga, with "Meido Zangetsuha" inside of it so Sesshomaru could master it and then return it to Tessaiga & InuYasha. Since Inu No Taisho has Tenseiga in the flashback as well, "Meido Zangetsuha" should have been linked to that sword & not Tessaiga, which he uses).
B. When they first meet, Moroha instantly knows that Towa & Setsuna are Sesshomaru's children based on their scent. As the series continues it becomes quite apparent Moroha has never met Sesshomaru (and has never spent time with her own parents either), so she should have no basis with which to recognize their scent (other than that they should be related to her in some unspecified manner).
C. In the original series it's stated that all half demons have a period of weakness once a month where they become fully human. The writers BS all sorts of reasons as to why only Towa is subject to this weakness, and only becomes subject to it upon the start of their adventure. Moroha is immune to it as she's only Quarter Demon (which really doesn't make sense, if anything she should become fully human for a longer period of time), Setsuna is immune to it because of the "curse" that keeps her from sleeping (this not only doesn't make sense, but it's starting to become clear why I'm putting "curse" in parentheses. In addition to immunization to this weakness, the "curse" also makes her immune to sleeping potions/powder/spells, the lack of sleep isn't shown to hamper her fighting ability, and the only thing she's lost are the memories of her first 4 years of life). Towa meanwhile has been immune to it until now because residing in the future negated it for unexplained reasons. The plot hole in particular comes in when Setsuna is completely shocked when Towa turns human, acting as if this is the first time she has ran into the phenomenon. While it is true that she herself hasn't experienced the weakness, it's later revealed she was raised in a village consisting of no one but half demons, and their lives were once endangered during the moment the village protector lost her demon powers, so she should be fully aware this is something that happens.

Granted, there are things about the series I do like, or at the very least found amusing.

• For example the first episode is largely a shot for shot adaptation of the special epilogue mangaka Rumiko Takahashi herself published back in 2011 to cap off the original series (published after the franchise's last anime adaptation ended). Treated as a flashback, it's altered slightly to be a jumping off point for whatever story they're trying to tell in YashaHime proper, but it's one nice last bit of traditional InuYasha.
• The girls do spend some time in the modern era during episodes 2, 3, & 4, and it's an absolute treasure seeing Moroha interact with Kagome's family, especially as they quickly figure out she's their biological relative (playing her up for comedy purposes works best here, as it's more about her fascination with all sorts of modern era junk). It's a shame that Towa's forced connection to them kinda takes time away from genuine family bonding, but it is what it is.
• The battle in the final episode goes all DBZ with a couple of the girls (one of them actually being Moroha, after going nearly all season long neglecting her) achieving new transformations against the big bad, ending up in outer space somehow & eviscerating moons. It's completely trippy, doesn't make much since, and feels completely removed from InuYasha in scope & vibe, but it was at least a fun segment if nothing else.
• Something they kept forshadowing throughout the season is the existence of the Grim Comet. Stupid name aside, it passes by once every 500 years or so and a chunk falls to Earth. If this chunk makes landfall it's said that it begets a calamity, with the last impact starting the age of demons. This information & some extra visual clues hint that demon origins may be extraterrestrial... which yes is insanely stupid, but more importantly the comet is closing near to Earth in the modern era. Bringing threats from the past into the modern era was a theme lightly touched on in the original InuYasha, but Takahashi largely dropped it after a few stories early on, so I'm all for YashaHime going into new territory & more involving the modern era, asinine origins for feudal era Japanese demons aside.
• And hey, at least it's getting a second season, so it has a chance to fix some of it's issues.

All in all it still fills a bit too much like a SessRin fanfic got greenlit more than a genuine sequel though.